Posted: Feb 4, 11:27a ET | Updated: Feb 8, 11:13a ET
NEW YORK (Reuers) -- Speed skating has produced Olympic heroes from invincible American Eric Heiden to triple champion Johann Olav Koss of Norway and the 2010 Games have candidates who could command the Vancouver stage in similar style.
American Shani Davis , who in 2006 became the first black man to win an individual Winter Games gold medal when he took the 1000m title, holds the world record at that distance and in the 1500m and will compete in four events -- the 500m, 1000m, 1500m and 5000m.
Davis decided to pass on the 10,000m, the marathon race that crowned the five-gold haul for Heiden in 1980 -- something that now seems a difficult target in an age of specialisation in events whose demands range from explosive speed to muscle-burning stamina.
The Americans almost struggled to get to the starting line as US Speedskating lost its sponsor when Dutch bank DSB went bankrupt in October.
To the rescue came comedian Stephen Colbert, host of the mock cable television news show "The Colbert Report." He adopted the team as a cause and through his viewers raised more than $300,000 as "Colbert Nation" became the official sponsor.
Looming as favorite to dominate the distance events of 5000m and 10,000m is 23-year-old Dutchman Sven Kramer , world-record holder at both distances and winner of the last three world allaround titles.
The powerful Kramer likes the Vancouver ice and holds the Richmond Olympic Oval track record over 5000m and 10,000m, but bagging a clutch of world records the way Koss the Boss did in 1994 in Lillehammer is not on the cards.
The stylish, new, $178 million speed skating arena, with a "wood wave" roof enclosing an environmentally sensitive design, is unlikely to feature world-record times given the relatively heavy, sea-level air of Vancouver.
Impressive showing
Asians are fancied to figure in the 500m as South Korean Lee Kyou-Hyuk won the world sprint championships in Japan, ahead of compatriot Lee Kang-Seok with Japanese Keiichiro Nagashima third.
Other men capable of taking multiple medals include Italian Enrico Fabris , the 2006 1500m champion, and Norwegian Håvard Bøkko , a leading middle-distance skater.
The depth of talent and nature of Olympic competition could lead to surprises.
"This is an event where special people come out from nowhere and have a performance of a lifetime," American Chad Hedrick , the 2006 Olympic 5000m champion, told Reuters Television in an interview.
"This isn't a World Cup, a world championships. This is a different ball game."
On the women's side, the home country fields a strong team coming off an impressive showing in the last Games.
Cindy Klassen led the way for Canada in 2006 by claiming gold in the 1500m, silver in 1000m and bronze in the 3000m and 5000m as she became the most decorated Canadian Winter Games athlete ever with six career medals.
Germany's Jenny Wolf has been the world's leading sprinter, while Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic, winner of five world championship golds, has been dominant at distance races.
Up-and-coming skaters tipped for success in Vancouver include Canada's Christine Nesbitt and 20-year-old American Trevor Marsicano , who took four medals in four days at the world single-distance championships at the Olympic oval.
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